with me. And I feel almost like the ego on the high perch. It's a long way up here. I'm not used to speaking from such a high lofty place, but certainly appreciative of the privilege of being here and sharing with you just a portion of God's Holy Word. I have with me tonight a little sketch of various verses of Scripture that I've written down that I want to go over, and I was asking one of the brothers about a little chalkboard. I'd like to use the chalkboard. Oftentimes what we see with the eye gate and what we hear with the ear gate stays with us a little bit longer than just what we hear sometimes as we call it lecturing. I really am not a lecturer, a poor preacher at that, but sometimes I think it's good to use a chalkboard. I learned this several years ago down in the South Country where I was raised that what we see with our eye and hear with our ear sometimes seems to last a little longer. I remember a dear preacher friend of mine said that he read his Bible daily out loud and on his knees. He'd go to the Word of God the first thing in the morning and he'd read it out loud. I said, well, brother, why do you read it out loud? He said, well, so my ears can hear it. So I thought, well, that's a pretty good idea. That's a pretty good idea. He's not only getting it with the eye gate into the mind, but the ear gate is involved, funneling the Word of God right into the mind. I think that's real important. So I kind of went along with that. Now, you may think both of us are nuts, but I tell you, I enjoy reading my Bible out loud. And so if Dear Sister Jones wonders if I've lost a few marbles upstairs mumbling in my room, it's just me going over some Scripture up there. All right, tonight, turning your Bibles, if you will, to the Book of Matthew. While you're turning, let me encourage you to make some decision about having some special emphasis or time with the young people. I do have a message I'd like to give, and if you young people would cooperate with me and we'd get out here and try to round some up, the last couple of days I've been knocking on doors in the area, and I'll tell you there's a lot of kids out here. There's a lot of them. I don't know how many we could round up, but it wouldn't matter to me what part of town they're from. We'd just get them in. Let's get them in. You're acquainted with many and you know many, and you, dear adults, let's go to work. Let's get our shoulder to the wheel. Let's bring folks out. In case that you're kind of wondering what the little secret meeting is going to be with the men and I, I'm going to bring you in on the secret. I never got to keep one too long. Anyhow, I'd like to talk with the brothers about whether we should try to go on with a gospel emphasis. and try to give a little teaching or take up a teaching emphasis with a little gospel. That's just kind of what I have in mind, so you brothers can be turning over your mind while the meeting's going on. As a matter of fact, if I ever had anyone full attention, I don't know what I'd do with it. I don't think I could preach if I had everybody's full attention anyway. So you'll be turning that over in your mind of kind of which way you feel like the meeting ought to go. I'm just real thankful to be here, and I'm here to work with you. I belong to nothing but Christ, or no one but Christ. I do not belong to any organization on earth. None. What you belong to or what you join up with, that's between you and the Lord. I am for Christ and the local assembly. And I don't mind. I make no apologies for that. And wherever I go, I try to help build up the local assembly. If I don't feel in my heart that I'm endorsing that local assembly, I just won't go. Because after all, I believe that's God's organism on earth at the local assembly. I'm convinced of that. And I don't believe He's ever abandoned it. You know, there's been a lot of failure with it. There's a lot of problems connected with it. But I do not find any verse of Scripture where the Lord is. Now, I want you to start off with the church. But when it fails, then here is this and that and the other, and then gives a handful of options. I can't read that in my Bible if you do that between you and the Lord. Well, tonight, I want to take up a very familiar subject. And I hope that it's a little bit of help to you, and I hope I bring something to you that you've never seen before. You remember our Lord could say in the book of Matthew chapter thirteen and there, He takes up the parables concerning the kingdom. He said in verse fifty-two, Therefore every scribe who is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is an householder which brings forth out of his treasure things new and old. I want to give you something new as well as some of the good old things that you know. and rejoice in. So tonight, Matthew chapter five, I want to take up the subject with you, entitled Reconciliation. Boy, that's a great big, oh, amen, there's just a right on the job. Reconciliation, that's a huge library term, isn't it? I wonder what on earth that word means. Reconciliation. That's one of those kinds that you had to pay a quarter to get. I mean, it's a big one. That's one of those expensive looking words. And yet it's a word that has so much meaning, and it's so important that we all need to see it tonight in the light and context of various passages that it's in. And so if you'll look at me now to the fifth chapter, the Lord Jesus is saying in verse twenty-one, Matthew five and verse twenty-one, ye have heard that it was said by them of old times, Thou shall not kill. Now did you notice how the Lord put that? Instead of just saying, God says thou shall not kill. Look what he said. You have heard that he was said by them a whole time. Now I wonder why the Lord put it that way. You got any idea? Did he ever do anything just by accident or was there always a pointed reason for it? I take the latter, don't you? There was a definite reason for approaching these people in that particular way. Ye have heard. that it was said by them of old time thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment now notice what he added on and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment now you know i don't find those words precisely in the old testament i do find thou shalt not kill that's one of the ten commandments And yet the latter part, I don't find precisely word for word in the Old Testament. So I think the Lord is showing here that what God had given and what seemed to have been understood by that or added to that, He's presenting to them in the context in which they know it. He's not removing it from their own situation. He's meeting them where they are. That's the point I'm trying to get across. The Lord Jesus is meeting people where they are. And he says, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, and so on. But verse twenty-two, I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of a judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother Raka, shall be in danger of a council. But whosoever shall say thou foo, shall be in danger of hellfire. Therefore, if you notice that, therefore, that's a interesting word. That's a Thai word. That's the word that seems to link. It's a linking word. It links passages and words and context together. Therefore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remembers that thy brother hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First he reconciled to thy brother, then come and offer... thy gift, offered thy gift. I would suppose that one of the greatest tragedies in the Church of God on earth tonight is division. Carnal, yes, carnal, weak, yes, weak. Immature, yes, immature, failing to witness like we ought, yes, all these things seem to be existing entities that we don't really like and don't really enjoy, but they seem to be real problems that we face. But I believe that something that's far more serious than those is the ugly division among Christians. Now the Lord is here, taking up something. Remember Christ came under the law. He was a minister or a servant to the circumcision. He came to the Jews. And so he's presenting to them something about relationship that's going to carry over into the church which he's going to be building. He hasn't announced his church yet, but he's going to announce it. By the time we get to chapter sixteen, the Lord announces, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Therefore, he says, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there you remember that your brother has ought against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother. and then come and offer your gift. Thank you, Brother Ray, for this talk. Now, remember that the Israelites had an altar, and that altar, you remember that they were actually allowed to come to, was the brazen altar. And we would have here the court date, and here's the court outline, of course the label would be here, and right here's the tabernacle, and so on. And this is toward the ease and therefore the other direction. But here the Israelites was allowed to come and meet with the priest because a priesthood had been constituted by the sin offering that was offered in the book of Exodus. There was no constituted priesthood until the sin offering was offered first. And the moment that the sin offering was offered and those men were identified with that sin offering, God declared them to be priests. And so the Israelite was free to come and offer his gifts. The only place he had. Now, you think, well, why bring that up? That's Israel and that's under the law. That's true. I agree with you. We've not got in in chapter five to the church. And even when we get to chapter sixteen, we haven't gotten into the church. We've got the announcement of the church. And chapter eighteen, we haven't got into the church. We've got some principles concerning and governing the church. It's only when we get to Acts chapter two that the church begins to show up in the earth. However, the Lord Jesus is giving principles that are going to last from the time that he spoke down to the time of the end of this dispensation of the grace of God. And we're going to be caught up. Now, those are principles that you and I are going to have to deal with. What are they? Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, would you offer something to the Lord if you would? Remember, there is an altar. And some night, Lord willing, if we take up some ministry here, I'd like to get into the Christian altar. Here we have the Israelite altar. We have the altar of Israel. God brings an altar for the nation of Israel. Alright, now here's what he required of those who were under the law. If you came to this altar and there as you brought your gift, you were reminded in your mind that your brother has something against you. He says, Leave your gift here at the altar. Go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. The Scripture says, Whosoever offers praise glorifies me. in the Old Testament. We find also a New Testament passage saying something like this. Therefore, let us offer unto God the sacrifice of praise that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks unto His name. So the gifts that we offer God are gifts of praise and sometimes material gifts that we offer to God. Now, it's rather hard to send a five-dollar bill to heaven, isn't it? But the Lord Jesus gave us the principle. He said, if you offer just a cup of cool water in my name, he said, you'll not go unrewarded. And he said, as much as you've done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. So there's the principle, you see. And so the Lord Jesus is teaching here that the Israelite was bound and actually scripturally bound to come to that altar and the moment that he thought about someone having something against him. The word altar is really the translation of a preposition meaning down or down on. So someone was down on him for some reason. And he says, leave your gift at the altar. First go be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer your gift at the altar. Now, If we're going to describe this word that's reconciled and try to give it a fair understanding and translation, I think it will be most momentous and I think it will be very helpful to see it on the Lord. First of all, the word that's translated in our passage here, reconciled, is actually two words. Now, the first word is a word meaning to change. So we have the word chain. That's the body of the word. That's the root of the word. But then it's compounded by a preposition. And if I were going to illustrate that preposition, I would draw an arrow through that circle. Oftentimes the Greeks showed the relationship words, which are prepositions, by an arrow and a circle. Or an arrow... sitting out there on the fence post, and the archer reaching back, taking a arrow shaft from his quiver, placing it in the bowstring, drawing the bowstring, and letting the arrow fly. Now, if you're going to describe the preposition that's connected with the word change, the word change is the Greek word alos. It's the word change, alos. Now, it's compounded by word diad, which we use in our English, incidentally. Now, suppose one of you is pretty sick. And so you call your brother in Christ or your sister in Christ and say, would you take me down to see the doctor? I'm rather ill. And I don't know what's wrong with me. So they come by and they're an automobile and they convey you down to the doctor's office and you go in and finally you get to see the doctor and he says, well, Mr. so-and-so, what seems to be your truck? You say, well, doctor, I don't know. That's why I've come to see you. I mean, if I knew what my trouble was, probably I'd try to get to a correction of it. But I don't know what's wrong. I'm just sick. He says, well, describe your pain. Kind of give me something to go on. About that time, the nurse flops the thermometer in your mouth, and then somebody grabs you by the arm, and they put one of those squeezers around there, and they pump it up, and they take your blood pressure, and they get a few preliminaries. And then he begins to quench a little more. And first thing you know, he begins to, he said, well, hey, come here, nurse, and let's get some blood, and they prick you on the end of the finger, and and get a little blood and they run into the lab and a little run of urinalysis and this and that and the other. And what's happening? He's diagnosing, isn't he? Now the word gnosco means to know thy experience. And the word dia means through. You get the picture here of the arrow going all the way through the apple. So when the archer drew the bowstring back and let the arrow fly, it not only hit the apple, but it went right on through the apple. So when you join the word through, to the word to know is actually knowing through something. Diagnosco or diagnosis. So our English word diagnosis is just a pure and simple Greek word with English letters. This can sort of dress it up English like, you know, but it's just really a Greek word. That's all on earth it is. So it means to know through something. So the Lord is saying here, leave your gift at the altar, before the altar. Go your way. First be, thoroughly changed. to your brother. Now remember, your brother had something against you. And he said, look, your gift is not going to be acceptable at the altar until, first of all, you go and see your brother and say, Brother, whoa, I was really wrong in that. And that's why I want you to forgive me. You're thoroughly changed. You're changed all the way through. Someone says, well, look, I'll forgive you, but I'm not going to forgive. Tell me, is that scriptural? How many would go along with that? And yet it's practiced every day. Come on, let's be honest. It's practiced every day. So the Lord is saying, be thoroughly changed. And so this change is to be so thorough it goes from one side of you out to the other side. It changes you all the way through. That's what reconcile means in verse twenty four of Matthew five. Now, wonder tonight, let's be honest now. Is there anybody here needs to go to a brother? Sure be a good time, would Amen? Or Omen? Which is it? Come on. Boy, it gets solemn. I'll tell you, that's when you can really tell the temperature, can't you? It gets dead quiet. Dead quiet. Well, it's still true. Brothers and sisters, we're never going to see real reviling. We're never going to see real outreach. We're never going to see real manifold blessings from God in a practical way until we can see real unity and reconciliation. Mark it down in your little day book. The Lord Jesus gave it to us in principle form here as he was speaking to a group of Jews. Let's find this word next as it appears in our Bible. The next time chronologically it appears in the Bible is in the book of Romans. And this time, now in English, actually the word is given by the Holy Spirit fourteen times. And it appears in English, I believe thirteen times. But you see, One time, it's not rendered, reconciled. And then another time that the word appears reconciled in English, it's not the word for reconciliation. We'll look into that tonight. All right. Romans chapter five and look at verse eight. Well, let's just read from verse six down because that brings us a nice context. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. You see, we had no strength. Here we are on earth. There's God in heaven. Who's going to bridge the gap? Who's going to stretch from heaven to earth? God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, though he knew no sin. He did no sin. In him was no sin. And he's without sin, a four-fold account of his sinlessness. Yet the Lord Jesus came and identified with sinful man. And he's the only one that could hold on to heaven and touch earth at the same time. He's the only one that could bridge the gap between sinful man and holy God. And so when we were yet without strength, when we had nothing to bring us to God, Christ died for the ungodly. It was at a proper time, according to the time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for adventure, or perhaps, for a good man some would even dare to die. But God committed his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we should be saved from wrath through him, for if when we were enemies we were reconciled, notice now we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled that we should be saved by his life. Now here we have in this verse of Scripture, verse ten, the word reconciled two times, but this time it's a different word. It's not the Greek preposition di, meaning through, all the way through, but it's another preposition. And the Spirit of God makes no mistake. Notice what he's going to tag on to this word change. Once again, it's the word elos meaning change. But this time he's going to compound it with another word. And this time he's going to compound it with a preposition that means down or down upon. Wonder why that's so. Why would the Lord make up such a word like that? Notice the context. For if... When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. What made us an enemy? Would you hold your place there if you have trouble finding Scripture, and if you don't, just let it fly, and go with me to the book of Isaiah. Chapter fourteen. Isaiah fourteen. There's a lot of teaching in this chapter and a lot that we need to go over. I think it's Christian. Time will watch not for me tonight. It's not on the subject that we're taking up tonight. But there's a lot there. I'll just mention that in verse nine, the word hell is the first word. And the word grave in verse eleven is the same Hebrew word. She-O. The same Hebrew word. And it's also used in verse fifteen and translated hell there. But grave in verse nineteen is a different Hebrew word. It is not she-O, but heber. All right. Notice, if you will, now in verse nine. Hail from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming. It stirs up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nation. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, or to hell. And the noise of thy vials, the worm is spread unto thee, and the worms cover thee. Notice verse twelve, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nation? Notice this word Lucifer means day star, day star. The Lord Jesus is the brightest morning star in thee. Verse thirteen, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend it into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the signs of the Lord. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Now notice the ambition of this person declared to be Lucifer or Desar. What does he desire to do? Get up above the stars of God and be just like God himself. In other words, he's a usurper. A usurper. Exalted. Look what reconcile means in our passage, back to our passage in Romans five. For if when we were enemies, tell me, was the devil the enemy of God? And the answer is an obvious yes. And you see, listen to me, ladies and gentlemen tonight, anyone and everyone on the face of God's green globe that's not saved as a spiritual father that's not God. Would you believe that? Everyone that ever knowingly transgressed the law of God, had a spiritual father, and it is not the Lord God himself. Jesus said in John, E. C.E. are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you'll do. He said he was a murderer from the beginning, and he abode not in the truth because there's no truth in him. speaks a lie, speaks of himself because he's a liar and the father of it. You see, the devil is the spiritual father of everyone that ever sinned against God and is not saved. And so we find ourselves the moment we come to realize we've sinned against God as enemies of God. And Romans five in verse ten says for him, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God with the death of his son. And there's our word reconciled. And this time, rather than the word di, meaning through, change, or changing completely through, it is the word kapai, meaning down or down upon. It's a change that brings us down. And how fitting. Because we need to be brought down. You see, the truth is, everyone that's ever sinned against God and is not saved and refuses to receive Christ as Savior is playing God. How many of you go along with that? I won't ask for a raise of hands or a show of hands, but you think about it. You think about it. Man was made in the image of God, and man was made to need God, and to worship God, and to love God. And the moment we find ourselves in rebellion against God, we're enemies of God. We're actually playing God. I think that anyone with serious thinking and a sober mind is able to recognize tonight that Old Mother Earth and its populace is getting in a terrible condition. And it seems as though the world is shaping up into such a situation that it's ready for a man to step on the scenes and say, I can bring peace to the earth. The Arabs say they want peace, but they want a peace of Israel to get their peace, don't they? And Israel says she wants peace, but she wants to hold the Tana Peninsula. North Vietnam says they want peace and that Americans are aggressors and they're imperialists and so on. And yet they're wanting to run South Vietnam. And America says she wants peace and she sends thousands of tax dollars and young men and they're getting slaughtered at money going down the drain instead of exalting Christ, just exalting the devil. Because Jesus said he was a murderer and he voted on the truth because he's a murderer. He's a father of lies. And that's exactly what's going on. Nations lying to one another. Someone says, but our nation is full of integrity. Oh, you poor soul. You poor soul. And what if someone's going to walk out and say he's an anti-American? No, I want to be a really. Thank God I'm here. God put me here. He's sovereign. If He want me somewhere else here, I'd have me to be born there. I thank God I'm here and have the liberty. But I'm not going to say tonight that America, the Christian nation, there never was one. But this nation is changing rapidly and she's getting into a position to fall right in line with the one world ruler. And the day is going to come, according to Second Thessalonians chapter two, if you will. The day is going to come that a man will step on the beam and his plea for peace and his program for power is going to appeal to millions of people and they're going to bow down. Notice, if you will, verse three, chapter two, second Thessalonians, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first. And that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that's called God and that is worshipped so that he, notice now he as God, sent to the temple of God, showing at them that he's God. You see, this is the very nature of every unregenerate person to play God. If we really could see with our spiritual mind, if we really could lay hold of the truth of what God is and who God is, it would cause, I believe, everyone to fall on their faces, prostrate and say, Oh, Lord, the cry of Habakkuk was, oh, Lord, tonight. That's what we need. So God is telling us in Romans chapter five that if when we were enemies, you see we were in league with Satan spiritually. Satan had exalted himself and Satan wants to lift himself up and that's what we want to do before we're saved. We want to run our own life. I'd like to try to illustrate that. I was on the campus of Iowa State University. I was with quite a few young Christians. Young people, many of them just young Christians. And we were giving out the gospel in track, in fact form, and personal witness. And so we had met together and prayed and asked the Lord to give us help to contact every student on that campus. There's two, I think, twenty-two thousand students enrolled there at Iowa State University. And we were hoping to contact every student on the campus as much as we could. So it came my lot to go into one of the lunchrooms. And oh, how the young people were there, my husband. I thought, Lord, this is the greatest fish in the hole I've seen in a long time. Oh, the fish were there. The Lord Jesus said, come yet to me and I'll make you fish with the men. And I thought, boy, this is a great place. And so Brother Jim O'Connor took one of the place and I took the other end and some other helpers and we were going to converge in the middle. So I was passing out tracks and going from table to table and humans were coming in and others were going out. I was trying to get out as many tracks as I could. And I came to some of the workers and they looked at me like a cab looking at a new gate and I handed them one. You know, and they began to read. And so I finally got to the last part of my section, and there was a group of young people. And I thought, well, I better set it down and get me a place to preach. If I'm going to have a little preach in here, I better find somebody to get them hemmed up. So I began to pass them out, and one fellow said, well, why don't you sit down? I said, well, thanks a lot. I believe I will. And so I dug up a chair and sat down with them. And they said, well, what's your business? I said, Christ, Christ. I want to tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ, the man that cleansed my life. And one of them said, we don't need Jesus Christ. We don't need him. Just like that. I said, sir, Christ died for you. And the day will come, you'll be sorry you ever shook your fist in his face. The day's coming. We're living in a bold time. We're living in a time of unprecedented boldness and brotherness. when men are saying in the face of God that there is no God in that they won't have God in, they don't need Jesus Christ. And the thing that stirred them up to Moses when I said, Jesus is God. One man got so mad, young man got so mad, and he began to preach and he said, you listen to me. He said, yes, sir, I'll listen. And I'll listen to him. Until I'll tell you, down inside me the emotions of my being were strong to an intensity that I felt my fist going like that. I thought, oh, Lord, this is not your way. Our fire is flesh and blood. If it had been, I'd have been swinging. It's against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. And it's being wrought out in people, human beings, the children of Adam. You don't believe it, get out and test it. So what I was going to say is simply this. That man said, I'm going to run my life like I want to. And I said, yes, sir, that's what you're doing. And you're making a big mess. And at the end of your road is the Laker fire. He said, I am going to heaven. I said, you're going to hell if you don't get saved. Boy, did he get mad. I guess I just, you're a good thing. I had the protection of the tool. I guess that a people would have been right there. I'll tell you, I think he wanted to climb me. He was about ready to collar me right there. He was stirred up. One of them had a little skull cap, one of these little dingy things. He was supposed to be some kind of a professor or some kind of a religious teacher. I thought he said, I never could hear him too plain, never been understanding too plain, but I thought he said he was a Muslim. Believe that's what he said. I'm not sure. I'm a Muslim. You know, when you say that, do you mean that You believe that there is a God? And, oh, yes. I said, well, are you interested in talking about God? He said, yes. And so we went over to a little place that they have a lot of washing machines. They're just a whole string of washing machines and a bunch of dryers. And we went in there. Boy, it was noisy. But we could really kind of be alone. If you didn't have any washing, you sure didn't want to be in that place. But anyway, we went in there and had a time in the Word of God. But it's apparent that everyone I talked with that would not receive Jesus Christ as Savior wanted to run their own life. They wanted to exalt themselves. In other words, they wanted to play God. So God says those who are saved come down off their high and lofty throne and quit playing God and brought down where we belong. Prosperity. Jesus is the whole. That's the place of salvation. That's the place of restoration. That's the place of sanctification. That's the place of glorification. That's the place of good and blessing. And so God tells us here in verse ten of chapter five, the book of Romans, if when we were enemies and we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to God to the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we should be saved by his life. Now both times the word appears there is the word catai meaning down and the word change. So changed all the way down. from top to bottom. Actually, it's a change of humbling, bringing us down into a third change, taking our proper place. Our proper place is down. It might be interesting to note also that verse eleven uses the same Greek word. You won't find it in your English there. Let's read it together. Unless you have a different translation, you might have a different translation to bring it out. And not only so, but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the... And once again, it's the word reconciliation. Reconciliation, same Greek word. Why it's atonement here? I don't know. But it's the same word, meaning change down, barely brought down to a change, a complete change. All right, now let us go a little farther. We're going to find the word the next time in Romans, where the Lord takes up there, Israel and his program for them. Now in their present state, as a nation, they're rejecting Christ their Messiah. But there's going to be a day when they're going to be brought in. They're going to be reconciled. Notice in verse fifteen, we'll not take the time to get the context because we've got to hurry on. For if the casting away of them, that Israel, be the reconciling of the world, what shall be the receiving of them but length from the dead? So he said, When they, Israel, as a nation, rejected their Messiah, the gospel goes out to the Gentiles all over the world, and you and I have come in on the good and blessing of this Gentile gospel preaching, and thank God we've been saved. Oh, what a joy to know that our sins are gone. I was speaking to a lady today, not too much far from this building. And I said to her, I said, tell me, where will you be a thousand years from today? Oh, she said, I hope to be in heaven. Well, that always gives me a nice little opportunity to talk on hope. Did you ever hear a message on hope? You folks were fortunate to be born, probably raised in this country up here. But I was born down in Texas. Couldn't help it. I was born out there in the Red River Valley. Didn't have any vote on that. That just happened at a time in history. And I was raised up to realize down there that the word H-O-P-E is a very weak word. Hallelujah. I say to you, I hope that my old car that has a hundred and twenty-two thousand miles on it suddenly will stop having water to come into the oil. When I pull out my dip, dip, dig, it looks like this confetti stuff these sisters make. and put on table that's got yellow and jello and marshmallows and all kinds of good things all mixed up together. Boy, it really is. That's what it looks like. Instead of seeing nice oil or nice black oil, it's kind of milky looking and got a bunch of foam and it's great, you know. And how much longer it's going to go like that? I haven't got to throw it home inside there. It's still going. But I say, I hope that that old car will suddenly fix itself. Is that any guarantee it will? All right. I got some Maypops on my car. You know what Maypops are? They're tires that may pop anytime. All right. I say, I hope that I don't have a flat on my car when I get out there. But you know, when I get out there for the Bills House and I, all four of them may be clunked. You see, you can't really depend on the whole can. The way I raised up, you couldn't. And so I said, sir, I said, lady, you know, if that's all you've got, you haven't done it. I said, are your sins over old? Oh, forgiven. Why, no, I said. I said, well, just a minute, mine aren't. Oh, I said, no, that can't be. I said, would you mind looking in your Bible? I said, I know you probably don't have, most of them won't invite me in, drop a cold, and say, won't let me in the house. I sure like to get in there and preach a little bit. I said, when you get in the house, if you've got a Bible, why don't you turn to Colossians two and thirteen? And I said, you're going to find there. He said, having forgiven, you all trespass. Oh, she said, that's just the ones up to our faith. Huh? Are you sure? I said, were you born when he died? Oh, no. I said, listen, that's all your trespasses. That has to do with your positional salvation, your practical salvation. You have to work out every day. See? Well, she didn't know what I was talking about, I was saying. At least she didn't appear to. She sure gave me a strange look. But I said that. Anyway, what I'm trying to get at, the point I'm trying to make is simply this. That the very fact... that Israel has rejected the gospel and their Messiah, the gospel has gone out to you and I who are Gentiles, and we can know that our sins are gone, know that our souls are saved, know that we are sure for heaven and have the joys of it. And some blessed day God is going to bring Israel in, and they are going to be saved also. And so he says here in verse fifteen, for us to cast away of them, be the reconciling of the world. Here God is bringing the world all over to himself through the magic of Jesus Christ, those who believe. And then he says, what shall be the receiving of them, but life from the dead? So they're going to be received also. The next time the word appears is in the domestic relationship of verse Corinthians chapter seven and verse eleven. First Corinthians chapter seven and verse eleven. But, and if she depart, here's the case of a wife and a husband not able to grow along together under one roof. And the Lord says in verse nine, unto the married I command. He an eye with the Lord. All is speaking. Let not the wife depart from her husband. Now God says, don't do it. Now that ought to be sufficient. But the Lord has tagged on another little verse here. But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried. Did you notice that? That's the final word. You need to go over to Matthew five or Matthew nineteen. You've got it right here. Let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And here once again, the word down is used and the word changed. It can be changed downwardly. The scripture says, only by pride comes contention. Now, if there's contention between my wife and I wouldn't want to use you because you say I've condemned it. So I'll just use my little wife here. If any knows my little wife, bless her heart. All right. Now, if there's trouble between Gloria and I, if there's contention, listen to me now, it's her pride or my pride or our pride. But God says, O-N-L-Y. Only by pride. Now we need to think anything when God says only, that's it. That's it. And so here, something has happened. Pride, what does the scripture say? Pride goes before destruction and a Holy Spirit before a fall. Here's pride lifting one up. I'm just a little higher. By the way, you're way down there. A dear lady in this community told me the other day she just invited her out to the meetings and somehow another, she said, well, you know, I've been there. I don't live on. Go back. Well, what's wrong? Well, I think women are just as good as men. I said, I'm with you. A hundred percent. Sure are. Really? We're still together. Oh, she said, I believe that women should be able to speak at the church. Do? So I just had my single barrel with me. I just pulled out my little testament there. First Corinthians fourteen, you know, and I started a little passage. I said, this is the Word of God. Here's what God is saying. And so I just read this little portion here. Let your women keep silence in the church, as far as not permitted under them to speak. But they're commanded to be under obedience. It's all so fair to law. And if they'll learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. Or it's a shame for women to speak in the church. And I got that far. And she said, well, I just don't believe it. I'm sure sorry, but God says, when they say that, I haven't got anything else. I don't have any rabbits in the hand or anything. No tricks. I just have the word of God, and that's sufficient. And when someone says, I don't believe I have anything else to say. That's it. I run my course. So, here's what I'm saying. God wants us to be humbled and brought down low. God wants us to be in a place of being changed thoroughly, changed completely. And so, we find here that he speaks... of the domestic relationship where that if there comes a separation between husband and wife, then they should be reconciled to one another. How beautiful of the Lord to tell us this. Then, if you will, Second Corinthians chapter five is the next time the word appears. It appears twice in verse eighteen. It appears twice in verse nineteen and once in verse twenty. That's the chapter of reconciliation. Second Corinthians chapter five. Verse seventeen. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. All things are not just part of it. All things are become new. And that's a wonderful thing. You see, isn't it good that God gave us this opportunity of being completely changed, completely changed. And then he says, all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of God. of reconciliation. Twice the word is there. Now notice we have the ministry of reconciliation. Verse eighteen. And in verse nineteen we get the word of reconciliation. To wit or to know that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Here is Christ bringing the world down in a thorough change to come to himself. Because you see we never come to God. We never get into a right relationship with God without a real change. Too many people are just trying to get on the Jesus wagon. They're going to just kind of blow the van out. They're laughing. Man that had the hand that changed this and all that. But you know, if there's never been any change in the heart, it's not worth a snap of your finger. We can give you a dime for a dozen of them. If there's been no change in the heart, it's not worth a dime. And so here, he says, to which the God was in Christ, reconciling the world into himself, not imputing their trespasses under them. And listen, friends of night, if you're not saved, you're saved. All your sin, all your trespass, all your iniquities, all your wrong. Just blot it out at a moment of time. If you're willing to bow down tonight in your heart and say, Lord Jesus, I receive you as I'm a guilty, lost, hellbound, worthless sinner. But I believe that you died for me and that you were buried and that you rose again. I trust you. I receive you as my personal Savior. I'll tell you that kind of soul is going to be saved. Because that person that's broken in heart and humble like that is the one that's repented and the one who's repented is the one that's going to believe that real saving faith is the saving of their soul. not imputing their trespasses unto them. And it's committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now we have not only this ministry of reconciling, that is the service to go out and get people reconciled to God, but we have the word to preach as we go. He says here, he's committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ. We're representing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in a strange and horrible world. As though he says God did deceit you by us, We pray you and Christ said, Be ye reconciled to God. Oh, sinner friend, tonight, won't you be saved? Wouldn't you like to be out from under that load and burden of sin? When you put your head tonight on your pillow, think of it here. When you put your head on your pillow tonight, are all your sins still going to be on you? Or will you, by faith, accept the fact that they were laid on you? My judgment is behind me over nineteen hundred years ago. The Lord Jesus bore my judgment in his body. Oh, blessed be his name. He's a wonderful Savior. He loved me. He gave himself for me. He died for my sin. I have no other argument. I make no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. My, that thrilled my soul. So he says here, be ye reconciled to God. Once you receive Jesus as your personal Savior tonight. He wants the Savior. The next time that the word appears is down in the book of Ephesians. And once again, we're going to have a change of words. Notice in your Bible, those of you that like to study your Bible, I hope you have it with you tonight so you can see it. Perhaps you can mark it if you like to mark your Bible. Speaking of the death of Christ, he says, Verse fourteen, for he is our peace who has made both one. That's Jew and Gentile have been made one. and broken down the middle wall of partitioned agreement, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. This was Israel's law to walk in, and now that's been done away, and God has brought us together Christ. To make in himself of twain or two one new man, that's the church, so making peace of which Christ is the head, and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. might reconcile both in the gospel. You see, we as Jews and Gentiles were separated, and now he's brought us down together on one footing and one level in a real chain that brought us together and made us one in Christ. Isn't that a precious truth? Now this time, the Lord not only used the word down, but I don't know if you can probably tell us about my writing. I can get in there a little secret then. I'll get out there later. But anyway, this time, He prefixes it with a little preposition at all. That means from. Now let's put it all together and see what we've got here. First thing, that he might reconcile both unto God. Now it was a change down, but then it's from or away from. What would he mean here? Well, remember, Israel stood in a position or on the ground that they were a separated people, not to be joined up to others. Here is one position they occupied. Now God has changed them down and from that position into a new position. Instead of two, they're one now. Now, I think that's precious. I hope it's precious to you. Because that's the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. when he hung up on Calvary, shed his blood that we might be saved. Oh, pray the night, I can't say too much for the blood. I can't say too much for it. And so that he might reconcile it over the God. Changed down and away from a contrary position, brought together in one. Beautiful work of the Lord. Then in Colossians chapter, oh, our time is up. Look, we have just a few more verses. I hope that you'll hang on. Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. verse twenty when I take the time to get the context you can study it out later and having made peace through the blood of its cross by him to reconcile notice now to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether there be things in earth or things in heaven and you verse twenty one and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind now notice how the word enemies is brought out in the subject of reconciliation it was in Romans five and ten that we were enemies And he tells us where our enemy aspect was. In Colossians. One-twenty-one. Enemies in your mind by wicked work. Yet now has he reconciled. And once again it's the same word. To change down. To bring us off our lofty position of pride. And sin. And self-projection. Playing God. Changing us down. And from a contrary position. From. To the Lord. Isn't that a wonderful thing? From being enemies to being saints. From being sinners to being Christians. Isn't that marked? That's what God has done for us. Now, notice if you will, in your English Bible, in Hebrews two is seventeen. The word is going to appear in English, though it is not the word in Greek for reconciling.